ANTRIM — The Select Board on Monday authorized the movement of a decommissioned Civil War monument from the storage area behind the fire station to a hangar in Deering.

An unofficial committee of volunteers and town officials has been researching options for the restoration of a Civil War soldier that was taken down from in front of the Baptist Church in 2007. The committee recently consulted a professional who said the statue must be stored in a level position on stable ground. Right now, it is resting in three pieces on the grass behind the fire station.

“We were a little dismayed with the condition it was left in,” said Thelma Nichols, a member of the ad hoc committee.

Nichols said the Rymes family agreed to store the statue in a hangar in Deering and volunteers have offered equipment to safely transport the statue to the hangar. The committee is still pursuing private donations and grants in an effort to raise the estimated $30,000 needed to refurbish the statue, Nichols said.

She said voters in March might expect a warrant article or a budget item to cover the remaining costs.

Nichols said the statue was taken down because the base had begun to bow. The committee has been active since the spring, but funds and fundraising opportunities have been a challenge. Nichols said some people assumed the project would be the responsibility of the Historical Society.

“We were just starting to get active again,” said Nichols. “We were lucky if we had 50 bucks.”

At Monday’s Select Board meeting, Board Chairman Gordon Webber asked Nichols if the Select Board should officially sanction the committee so that it can begin fundraising. After Town Administrator Galen Stearns recommended establishing appropriate accounts, the board agreed to research its options before making the committee official.

According to committee member Lyman Gilmore, the statue was installed in July 1892 and dedicated by the Grand Army of the Republic, an association of Civil War veterans. The statue was placed on town property and Nichols said there is a good possibility the statue will eventually be returned to the same spot, but the committee is also considering another location.

In other business:

•Former town employee David Duffy addressed the board with a series of grievances, accusing the Highway Department of failing to repair roads in a timely manner.

“We’re all well aware of the reason why,” said Webber, who explained that the department had last year cut its budget by 20 percent, nearly $150,000, in an effort to offset the town’s deficit.

“We’ll take your accusations under advisement,” said Selectman Michael Genest.

• The forensic audit is “in the lawyer to lawyer phase,” said Webber, after the town terminated the contract with Graham and Graham and demanded a refund for the $7,200 the town had paid to the firm. The firm denied that request and the case appears to be headed to court.

The town has since recovered from a $1.3 million deficit identified at the end of 2009, but selectmen approved a forensic audit in December 2009 to pinpoint the origins of the deficit. The town hired Graham and Graham - a “well respected firm,” said Webber - based in Concord. In the months since, the town authorized three payments to the firm despite receiving no reports, no updates and no information whatsoever.

“Do we need a forensic audit on the forensic audit?” asked resident Shelley Nelkens.

“I thought it was a waste of money,” said Selectman Eric Tenney, who was not in office when the Select Board approved the audit. “And I think that’s borne fruit.”

“There are still a lot of people who think it’s a great idea,” said resident David Duffy.

“Me too,” said Webber. “It’s a very frustrating position to be in.”

• The final touches on the Water Street Bridge are slated to begin on Sept. 7, nearly a year after the bridge was supposed to have been completed. The bridge’s construction schedule was delayed following a catastrophic washout of a diversion channel in October 2009.

Change orders totaling $22,000 will cover the final coat of asphalt, the removal of stumps and boulders and all remaining costs at the bridge.

Ian Johnson owns the mill building directly adjacent to the bridge site. He said the dust from vehicles driving over the uncompleted bridge is getting sucked into his precision equipment. He said his frequent complaints to town officials have gone unanswered.

“I feel I’m being brushed off,” said Johnson. “The whole situation has caused me a lot of pain. I think it’s very unneighborly and not right, what’s going on down there.”

Selectman Eric Tenney took issue with Johnson’s claims. He said his wife had trouble sleeping because of the smoke that comes from Johnson’s factory during the winter.

“The smoke coming out of that place in the winter is much worse than the dust in the summer,” said Tenney. “He doesn’t want to complain too loudly.”

Johnson said Wednesday that the smoke from his factory comes from a woodstove outside the building.

“Nobody’s ever mentioned it,” said Johnson. “It’s not that bad,”

• With 66 percent of the year over, Stearns said the town has only used 46 percent of its annual budget, leaving the town “in very good shape.” In addition, Stearns said he “severely underestimated” revenues, leading to further monies in town coffers he had not anticipated. By the end of the year, Stearns expects a six-figure surplus, he said. The Select Board said there is a strong possibility to remove the additional $1 per $1,000 of assessed value — which was added to the tax rate due to last year’s deficit — from the tax rate this year.